Every now and then, a recipe from yesteryear feels surprisingly modern. This meal hits the trifecta of today’s cooking: it’s a fast and filling weeknight meal, it’s easy to make, and it packs a ton of protein.
This pasta with bacon, ricotta, and peas first appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Aug. 14, 1996, as Oricchiette With Ricotta, Bacon, and Peas. And, as you can see from the highlighted bits, I was specifically looking for a way to use up my extra ricotta cheese. This meal stood out as my next Yinzer Yum of Yesteryear because it’s both very now and yet so timeless.
The star of most high-protein meals these days is cottage cheese, but ricotta offers just as much protein per serving as its lumpier cousin. (It does, however, vary depending on fat content, brand, etc.) So if you’re looking for a high-protein dinner, this is a good option.
Altogether, this meal is also pretty economical. You don’t need much — just a pound of pasta, a few slices of bacon, a big scoop of ricotta, and some frozen peas to transform dinner into something satisfying.
For this recipe, you can pre-cook bacon strips, then break them into bits or use packaged bacon bits. I used Kirkland brand Signature Bacon Crumbles made from real bacon, but you can also use McCormick brand Bac’n Pieces as a vegetarian substitute, which costs a little less per ounce and is shelf-stable for longer.
I also used rotini instead of mini shells or orecchiette because I had some on hand, and I figured the sauce would settle just as nicely onto this textured pasta. In other words, you don’t have to run out and buy anything special to make this dish.
Nearly three decades after its newspaper debut, this recipe still feels like a small luxury. And since my kids love it, too, it’s earned a spot in my regular rotation.
The original recipe:
- 1 cup shelled fresh or frozen peas
- 3 ounces pancetta or bacon (4 strips) cut into ½-inch squares
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 1 cup ricotta cheese (about ½ pound)
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 pound orecchiette, small shells, or fusilli
Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot for the pasta. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a small pot for the peas. Add the peas and cook until tender, about 4 minutes for fresh, about 1 minute for frozen. Drain, and set the peas aside.
Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until lightly browned but not yet crisp, about 6 minutes. Use a fork to transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Drain off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings.
Add the onion to the skillet, and sauté until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the peas, and cook for 30 seconds to coat them with some of the bacon drippings.
Scrape the onion and peas into a bowl large enough to hold the cooked pasta. Stir in the cheeses and bacon. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add the desired salt to the boiling water; then, add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving ½ cup of the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the cheese sauce, adding as much cooking water as needed to moisten the pasta. Serve the pasta in individual bowls immediately. Makes 4 servings.
Per serving: 675 calories, 20 g fat, 45 mg cholesterol, 310 mg sodium (before salting), 30 g protein, 95 g carbohydrate.
For me, the hallmark of easy weeknight cooking is a one-pot meal. So, I mixed up the steps and made this a more time-saving, one-pot, less-cleanup type of dinner. The whole thing from start to finish took about 30 minutes to prepare.
After, the only things I needed to clean up were one cutting board, a wooden spoon, and a knife. I was able to toss the pot, colander, and bowls in the dishwasher. Cleanup took less than five minutes.
First, I started by boiling some water, adding a tablespoon of salt, and stirring in the pasta. After cooking the pasta for eight minutes, it was al dente. At that point, I added one cup of peas to the pot and allowed it to come back to a simmer for about one minute. Then, I drained the rotini and peas into a colander with a metal bowl underneath to catch the cooking water.
Since, as stated above, I used pre-cooked bacon bits, I got to skip the step where you cook the strips of bacon. And since I had no bacon fat in which to cook my onions, I used about 2 Tbsp. of olive oil to soften them. Then, I added my bacon bits and warmed them with the onions for about 2 minutes. After that, I added ½ cup of pasta/pea cooking water to create a slurry. I let the onions and bacon come together with the slurry for about 3-4 minutes before adding in the cheeses. Then, I added the pasta and peas and carefully mixed everything together, serving immediately.
Re-warming this pasta is a breeze. I added about a half cup of milk to smooth it out and re-moisten it. It warmed up beautifully and made some wonderful, fresh-tasting leftovers.
Here is a downloadable PDF of my updated recipe:
All Yinzer Yums meals will be donated to the Millvale Free Fridge at least through the end of 2025.
This article appears in Nov. 5-11, 2025.
